Jarmusiewicz, Jan (EN)

Jarmusiewicz Jan, *1781 Wola Zarczycka (formerly Żarczycka) near Leżajsk, †5 August 1844 Zaczernie (near Rzeszów), Polish music theorist. He came from a peasant family. After graduating from the local school, he continued his education in Leżajsk, where he learned to play the violin and sing in a church band. In 1798, he graduated from secondary school in Rzeszów. Initially, he worked as a clerk in Leżajsk, then as a private tutor in the home of Baron Bess, the starost of Rzeszów in Żyznów near Jasło. Thanks to his financial support, he began studying philosophy at the University of Lviv. After spending time in Kamieniec Podolski, where he worked as a private tutor, he returned to Lviv and continued his studies at the theology department. In 1807, he was ordained a priest and took up a position in Rzeszów as a vicar, school catechist, and French teacher. He then moved to Przemyśl, where he served as chaplain to Bishop A. Gołuchowski; there, he also directed the cathedral choir and founded a school for organists. From 1811, he was parish priest in the village of Wojutycze, from 1814 in Przybyszówka, and from 1823 until his death in Zaczernie near Rzeszów. During this period, he wrote two works on music theory, devoted himself to painting and inventing (he constructed several simple agricultural devices and a keyboard instrument called a viola organista). In 1842, he was appointed an honorary member of the Music Society in Lviv.

Jarmusiewicz is one of the most original, unjustly forgotten Polish music theorists of the 19th century. Two treatises secured him a permanent place in the history of Polish music: Chorał gregoryański… [Gregorian Chant…] and Nowy system muzyki… [The New System of Music…]. In the first of these, he discusses the history of chant, notation, and the system of church scales. He also quotes songs, hymns, and psalms with contemporary rhythm and harmony added by himself (which caused controversy and diminished the significance of his work).

Nowy system muzyki… is of great importance in the history of Polish theoretical thought. In the treatise author comprehensively addresses issues related to harmony; his ambition, as stated in the title of the treatise, was to create a “new system” based on “previously unknown principles.” Jarmusiewicz’s comprehensive treatise was meticulously prepared and released in two languages, with the Polish text on the left page and the German translation on the right. The whole work consists of an introduction and four parts. Part I, O melodii [On Melody], contains a lecture on the basic principles of music, expanded to include introductory issues in the field of composition and comments (without the German text) on the prosody of the Polish language. In Part II, O harmonii [On Harmony], the author presents a fully crystallized harmonic system, while in Part III, O bazie harmonicznej [On the Harmonic Base], which is the most extensive section of the treatise, he demonstrates the practical application of the principles of harmony set out in the previous part. The last chapter of Part III is devoted to the problems of figured bass; Jarmusiewicz criticizes both the technique of fugured bass itself and works in this field – the contemporary textbooks by J.G. Schicht, A. Reicha, and E.A. Förster. Part IV, O kontrapunkcji harmonicznej [On Harmonic Counterpoint], is a course in composition covering the main principles of polyphonic form, with an emphasis on the role of harmony as the overriding factor.

The originality of Jarmusiewicz’s work lies primarily in his interpretation of harmonic phenomena based not on the principles of figured bass, but on functional relationships. According to him, the fundamental and most important element of harmony is the three-note chord, while the triad represents the most natural combination of three such chords within a tonality (reflecting Rameau’s theory). The author carried out a classification of chords, dividing them into main (“primary”) and derived (“derivative”) chords, which serve a substitutive function in relation to the primary ones. He defines the basic functional relationships between chords in fifth, third, and second intervals, as well as the leading tone, discusses principles of melody harmonization and methods of modulation (a topic treated in no other 19th-century Polish textbook so comprehensively), and also proposes his own system of chord notation. His theory sometimes shows certain similarities with the later system of H. Riemann, but there is no evidence that the German scholar knew and used the Polish author’s treatise. The weakness of Jarmusiewicz’s work is the lack of a clear methodology and a certain linguistic awkwardness – without a solid scientific background, he was unable to precisely define and develop the issues he addressed. His theory did not resonate with his contemporaries. The “Allgemeine Wiener Musik-Zeitung” (1843) published only a brief review of his treatise, while J. Sikorski’s Doręcznik muzyczny (1852) contained short, negative references to both works. It was C. Zawiejski, author of a doctoral dissertation on Jarmusiewicz’s treatise, written in 1932 under the supervision of Z. Jachimecki at the Jagiellonian University, who brought him out of obscurity and appreciated his contribution to the development of Polish music theory. After the war, the subject was taken up by M. Podhajski, who in 1969 organized a scientific session at the Academy of Music (PWSM) in Gdańsk and also led to the publication of Zawiejski’s work.

Literature: C. Zawiejski Teoria harmonii ks. Jana Jarmusiewicza (1781–1844) na tle ówczesnej epoki, 1932 (PhD dissertation, Jagiellonian University, Krakow), published in: «Prace Specjalne» XXXIX, scholarly edition and preface by M. Podhajski, 1986 Academy of Music in Gdańsk; “Zeszyty Naukowe PWSM w Gdańsku” IX, 1970 (proceedings of the scholarly session dedicated to Jarmusiewicz’s work).